Importance Of Teamwork
by Masuku No Suki
Summary: Ren has goals outside of killing Gastrea, but that never stopped her from becoming an Initiator, to begin with. Unfortunately, her Promoter isn't someone she's fond of.
1. chapter 1

As carefully as a surgeon performing in an operation, Ren watered her houseplant with as much precision and accuracy as humanly possible. And not a drop of water spilled from its elongated stripy leaves, nor was a drop wasted.

Water was a scarce necessity.

Regardless, her plant was her only hint of peace in such a violent world. So spending every penny she earned from killing Gastrea from buying clean water didn't bother her in the slightest.

The same couldn't be said for her Promoter, Yusei, who was too stupid to understand why her plant was so important. But like most Initiators and Promoters, they lived together, in a small but cozy apartment.

Though it was small, it suited the needs of her and her plant. But even when cramped up in such a small apartment, the duo never got along.

As a result, their rooms were off limits to the other, a rule they had no problem following. Besides that, the only times they spoke were through arguments at home or in battle.

But that's just how things were. Some people didn't get along and one of those people just happened to be her Promoter.

Ren drew back the plastic watering can with a satisfied smile. Though when her Promoter made loud knocks on her door while calling her name, that smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown.

Although they hardly spoke, a day of peace and quiet was hard to come by.

Ren stood up, her hands brushing over her skirt before making her way to the door. Even though she didn't want to answer it she had lived with Yusei long enough to know that wouldn't quit knocking until he got what she answered

And with an agitated grip on the doorknob and a twist, she looked up to meet the crimson eyes of her promoter.

He was tall and, being only ten years old, Ren barely reached his shoulders. His silvery white hair looked as disheveled and messy as usual and on a single ear he wore two earrings and has never taken them off since the day they've met.

"What do you what?" Ren asked with a hard unintentional glare. And as such, Yusei returned the favor.

"We're doing a patrol, now, I'll be waiting outside." He said, leaving no room for her say. Though this was nothing new for Ren, that didn't mean it didn't rub her the wrong way.

"Patrols, patrols, patrols. Is that all you think about?" She replied not holding back the annoyance in her tone in the slightest.

"That inanimate object is the only reason we even have to go on these patrols!" Yusei said pointing to the plant sitting by the window in her room.

Ren cleared her throat while fiddling with the yellow scarf she wore over her sailor top school uniform."

Plants aren't inanimate." She corrected, interrupting his argument in the process.

"Yeah yeah, keep this up and its tap water for that thing," Yusei promised.

Ren bit her lip. Tap water still had traces of the Gastrea virus in it. And if her plant got infected it would try to kill her and as a result, she'd have to kill the plant and her spirit along with it.

At that moment, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. But she knew sacrifices had to be made during times like this but she would give the world before her plant

"Come on, Ren." Yusei groaned.

She groaned as well, her hands balled into fists at her side. "Fine."

Yusei had won but he said nothing and walked away but Ren knew he was mentally celebrating with only a cocky grin to show.

She dawdled her way to the sniper rifle and bow leaning on the foot of her bed.

Only weapons that dealt a lot of damage from a range were her likening. The thought of getting up close and personal had always seemed intimidating.

Many other Initiators had no problem with it but she did. Something that often earned her teasing from Yusei.

She didn't care though, keeping things at a distance worked well for her with the cloaking ability from her model: Octopus.

Although it did earn a few laughs from other Initiators and Promoters. Octopus wasn't the most intimidating animals you could think of. Regardless she had personally grown to appreciate it.

It didn't take much thought for her to choose her sniper rifle out of the two.

Explosive arrows were quite expensive and as a result, she only used her bow on special occasions when money wasn't much of an issue.

Ren draping the strap of the rifle on her shoulder, she made her way towards the large mirror that leaned against the wall. She always looked in the mirror before leaving home to see the comparison when she got back.

She stared into own her canary yellow eyes that looked lively at the moment and no bags were seen underneath them. And her violet hair was well-kept and straight, for now.

The Initiator let out a deep sigh before heading out. This was getting old...


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting behind Yusei on his motorcycle, Ren's pale fingers remained intertwined with each other in front of Yusei solely to keep herself from falling off as they passed by large clusters of apartments that looked identical to theirs. And her sniper rifle stuck to her back, secured by a tight harness across her torso.

But through the tinted motorcycle helmet, Ren held back a yawn leaning her head on Yusei's back for a temporary substitute pillow. She couldn't care less if it could be mistaken for affection by anyone who happened to be watching. Those hours Ren spent staring at the window of her bedroom listening to hooting owls and chirping cicadas instead of sleeping were starting to kick in.

Yusei had caught wind of her weariness early-on in their partnership and got her sleeping pills despite her suggesting otherwise. Despite that, Ren wasn't one to hold grudges for such matters but when he had the nerve to force sleeping pills down her throat he earned himself a flurry of punches until she dozed off and the silent treatment once she woke up.

And all due to her fear of having her guard down. As before she became an Initiator, having her guard always led to some sort of pain.

Being the first and only cursed child in her family made for a rough and abusive childhood if you could call it that. She lost her chance at a happy childhood the moment her father left the family when she was born before she could really remember his face. And as a result, her mother would always come home from work tired and depressed with only a bottle of sake to ease her melancholy, that's the only side Ren ever saw of her.

But according to her sister, her mother used to actually smile before Ren was born. Kaori had always made it clear that the family was better off before without her. Whether it was through happy recallings of her father or through her choking Ren with a belt and dragging her around like a dog wearing a collar while reviling her with insults.

Waking up to sharp kicks at her side was only the very tip of the iceberg. Kaori was much more resentful than that and being fours years younger than her, Ren had no choice but to accept what Kaori called her punishment. And at the time, that's what Ren thought of it, punishment.

Ren cried and whimpered but it wouldn't be a proper punishment if she didn't. And being a cursed child Kaori couldn't pull any punches though it wasn't as if she were going to anyway. Hard hits from Dad's old baseball bat and repeated pushes down the stairs were favorites due to their frequency.

And like persistent school bullies, Ren expected their arrival every day but silently prayed that they wouldn't. But prayers did nothing to save her from a world of hurt. Her mother certainly didn't.

Her mother simply watched in satisfaction as Ren's head was being rubbed between the carpet and Kaori's rain boots.

She still has migraines to this day and can't sleep without locking the door. Yusei had only intruded once, the one day she was too spent from a long patrol and forgot to lock the door before falling asleep. Yusei had trouble waking her up the next morning and resorted to kicking her awake. Ren's eyes snapped open before she looked up to Yusei with through a tearful and fearing gaze before she began crying hysterically.

That was the only time Yusei had actually comforted her. Rubbing circles on her back, rocking her back and forth in his lap, whispering apologies in her ear and swallowing his pride. All while Ren worked to extract the memories from her mind.

But that was before Yusei had gotten her a bed. Now the memory made Ren's face heat up. The last thing she wanted was to look weak in front of him. And Ren looked as fragile as an egg that day. Nonetheless, she had long forgiven him though she doubted he had forgiven himself.

Yusei came to a halt on a street practically deserted from all of the Gastrea repeatedly reappearing there. Ren's eyes had cracked open not even realizing she had closed them in the first place. She got off the motorcycle before she could gain her balance and wobbled on her feet a bit.

"Forgot how to stand, tentacles?" Ren recognized the youthful feminine voice laced with fake innocence immediately and let out a silent groan.

She took off her helmet before turning to Yuria displaying her sharp row of teeth with a grin. Her jet black ponytail was placed on the right side of her head instead of the back making her hair annoyingly asymmetrical.

Ren should've known better than to tell Yuria her model was Octopus. She didn't even have tentacles but that wouldn't stop Yuria from making up such a dumb nickname. But despite it being dumb, it got under Ren's skin.

They were rivals more than anything but if Ren hadn't stood up to her, Yuria would've easily been her bully instead. But Ren had much more dignity than to simply submit to someone like Yuria.

She decided to play along and gave Yuria a cocky smirk. "Tentacles? Come on, Yuria. You can do better than that." She teased.

Yuria fumed and her hands balled into fists at her side. "Let's see how long you'd last in a fight then!" Claws retracted from her fingers before Yuria attempted to lunge at Ren but was caught midair by her silver-haired Promoter, Akio.

A smirk of victory graced Ren's features as Yuria squirmed in Akio's arms scratching his hoodie in the process while he collectedly told her to calm down.

Before Ren could celebrate any further, she turned to Yusei's glare directed at her. "What?" She asked.

"What did you do?"

"Are you serious? She started it!" Ren rebutted, only realizing how childish it sounded after saying it aloud. Childish or not, it was true.

Though didn't surprise her that Yusei immediately blamed her. Akio and Yusei got along well but even she noticed Yusei struggling to stay on good terms with him with their Initiators in the picture. She felt a little guilty about it but at the same time, it wasn't as if she chose to hate Yuria. They just didn't get along, you couldn't just force otherwise like some arranged marriage.

He shook his head. "Whatever, go apologize," Yusei said giving Ren a literal push.

With her arm rubbing the other and her mouth twisted into a pout, Ren shuffled her way to the now-free Yuria with her gaze focused on the ground.

They met eyes and stared at each other with a narrow-eyed gaze not saying a single word to each other until Yuria broke the silence.

"First one to kill fifty Gastrea wins." She whispered. That's all she needed to say. Ren understood fully, Yuria's deadly games were nothing new. In fact, Ren had grown a liking to them but Yuria didn't need to know that. They made what would otherwise be a boring repetitive patrol into a competition with the reward being a stroke to the ego.

One side of Ren's lips curved upward. "You're on."


End file.
